Debian Derivatives Exchange project
launched

March 18th, 2011

The Debian Project has taken another important step towards better
collaboration with its more than 300 derivative distributions by launching
the Debian dErivatives eXchange
project (DEX). The core idea behind DEX is to reduce the technical
differences (informally called delta) between Debian and its
derivatives. This is mainly accomplished by easing the integration of
patches from derivatives. Making available the patches from all derivatives
results not only in a better system for all involved parties, but also
eases the workload of the derivatives by reducing the differences
derivatives have to maintain themselves.

The DEX project complements the already existing Debian derivatives front
desk by organizing cross-distribution working groups and projects to
monitor and merge changes from derivatives into Debian proper. In DEX,
developers from both Debian and derivatives work side-by-side to merge
changes into Debian. A first working group is the DEX Ubuntu Team, targeting
to integrate packages and changes available in Ubuntu back into Debian,
continuing the work of the already existing Utnubu Team on a more general
level. A gNewSense DEX Team is also expected in the near future.
If you can't measure it, it doesn't exist, especially when you measure
numbers of defects you want to fix. Arguably, most of the deltas between
Debian and its derivatives need to be fixed, by merging them back into
Debian. DEX has the potential to host a number of cross-distro initiatives
that will measure and ultimately reduce existing deltas among Debian and
its derivatives.
Stefano Zacchiroli (Debian Project Leader and co-founder of DEX) explains
about this project.

The Debian Project invites all Debian based distributions and other
projects to join the DEX project and work together on a common base. As
Matt Zimmerman (Chair of the Ubuntu Technical Board and co-founder of DEX)
says:
If you want to see Debian benefit from technical work done in
derivatives, DEX is a chance for you to act together to make it happen. If
you work on a derivative and want to carry a smaller delta, come and join
us. I'm sure we'll learn a lot from this experience.

About Debian

The Debian Project was founded in 1993 by Ian Murdock to be a truly
free community project. Since then the project has grown to be one of
the largest and most influential open source projects. Thousands of
volunteers from all over the world work together to create and
maintain Debian software. Available in 70 languages, and
supporting a huge range of computer types, Debian calls itself the
universal operating system.

Contact Information

For further information, please visit the Debian web pages at
https://www.debian.org/ or send mail to
<press@debian.org>.